255-members to represent India at Special Olympics World Summer Games


India will be represented by a strong 255-member contingent at the Special Olympics World Summer Games to be held in Berlin, Germany from June 17 to 25.


The contingent includes 198 athletes, who will participate in 16 disciplines, and unified partners and 57 coaches.


The Special Olympics World Games are the world’s largest inclusive sporting event for people with intellectual disabilities.


A total of 700 athletes and unified partners across 190 countries will compete in 26 disciplines in Berlin.


Before their departure for Berlin on June 12, the Indian athletes will participate in a preparatory camp at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium from June 7 to 11.


Special Olympics Bharat will also organise a special send-off ceremony for the contingent at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on Thursday, which will be attended by Sports Minister Anurag Thakur, Women and Child Development and Minority Affairs Minister Smriti Irani, Indian Olympic Association chief PT Usha, cricketer Yuvraj Singh and singer Sonu Nigam, among others.


Leading social activist and Special Olympics Bharat chairperson Mallika Nadda expects India to return with an impressive medal haul from Berlin.


“The competition part comes later, firstly it is all about participation. I expect over 150 medals from our athletes in the Special Olympics World Summer Games,” said Nadda, who is also the wife of BJP president JP Nadda.


Nadda also urged the people to support the special athletes to help them become a part of mainstream society.


“They want dignity of life and sports help them get that. I urge everyone to help the in their endeavour. I also request state governments to recognise their hardwork and efforts by honouring them with cash awards and jobs for their achievements,” she said.


She lauded the sports ministry’s endeavour to honour special athletes with cash awards of Rs 5 lakh, Rs 3 lakh and Rs 2 lakh respectively for winning gold, silver and bronze medals in international events.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

For all the latest Sports News Click Here 

Read original article here

Denial of responsibility! TechAI is an automatic aggregator around the global media. All the content are available free on Internet. We have just arranged it in one platform for educational purpose only. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, all materials to their authors. If you are the owner of the content and do not want us to publish your materials on our website, please contact us by email – [email protected]. The content will be deleted within 24 hours.